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After one too many emails asking for the same thing again, I’ve just decided to go ahead an give a step by step process to getting a GH1 straight from the box into shape for full manual shooting of HD motion images, with appropriate modes and options turned on and set to where they should be (at least as a starting point). So below is the first…..

Hot Rod Cameras Quick Start Guide to Manual Shooting with the GH1

- Select the movie camera Icon on the dial, this is CREATIVE MOTION PICTURE MODE
- Press MENU/SET
- On page 1 of the Motion Picture Menu at the top is REC MODE – Press right (WB) and select AVCHD
- Next item down on page 1 is REC Quality – Select FHD for 1080 24p (23.976) and SH for 720/60p (59.94p)
- Next item down on page 1 is Exposure Mode select M (for manual)
- Last item on page 1 is I.Exposure- turn this to off.

- Then select the next menu by pressing MENU/SET then [+] to move left then [Fn] (to move down to CUSTOM MENU then press right [WB], then up [ISO] until page 1 jumps to page 5, turn SHOOT W/O LENS to ON – You’ll need to turn this on in each mode you if you are using non-native m4/3 lenses.

- Then get to page 2 of the CUSTOM MENU and turn HISTOGRAM to ON. You now have the option to place it where you like. I prefer top left corner of the frame, you can always change it later.

Then on the top of the camera press the FILM MODE button. Select page 4 of 12 by pressing the [WB] button until you get to SMOOTH. Press MENU/SET and your are done.

There are 4 options under SMOOTH in FILM MODE (Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation and Noise Reduction). I recommend for general purpose shooting you leave these at the default position of 0. You can get some benefit by changing these options during certain shooting conditions, however, I caution against changing them now and then leaving them in a position other than default arbitrarily. You should experiment and look at the trade offs the adjustments make to the image.

Adjust the Shutter Speed to 1/50 for [FHD] and 1/125 for [SH] mode.

Turn the dial on the top of the camera to one of the still modes (M is closest to Creative Motion Picture)

- Press MENU/SET and then press [WB] on the REC menu, press up [ISO] until you get to page 4, the last option on page 4 is ISO INCREMENTS select 1/3EV to get all 16 ISO options unlocked for shooting still and 13 ISO options for shooting motion. Do note, if you are planning on ever projecting your images on a BIG screen (say bigger than 10′) shoot only with ISOs under 400. Shoot a test and you’ll see what I mean.

- Other than a manual lens, the primary investment in anyone with a GH1 should be an extra battery and a set of ND filters and a Polarizer (linear pola is the most effective). If you aren’t going pro with 4×4 or 4×5 size filters and a mattebox, consider series 9, if not series 9 and a lens shade, go with the largest size you can afford and the appropriate rings to step up to that lens shade. If you find yourself shooting at 100 ISO and you need more ND than you can get from an ND9, add a Pola rather than stack an ND3 or ND6 on top of the ND9. I recommend against an ND1.2 as well, unless you have a v-e-r-y good IR filter as well. This camera definitely gets some benefit from an IR filter, although perhaps not as much as some others.

- Learn what you are comfortable with as the maximum exposure point on the HISTOGRAM (this is important). Take your test images into color correction. I feel pretty good with my whitest white being reaching about 94% to the right edge of the live HISTORGAM. Beyond that I don’t like it. If I have a lot of dark tones in the shadows, because I’m underexposing to protect the highlights, I’m feeling pretty comfortable adding gamma to the image and still having the a pretty darn clean picture. Your mileage may vary, test this.

If you have no other option than to shoot motion picture mode with the 14-140 lens (which I can no longer recommend for any situation other than stills) turn OIS to off. You will be very disappointed the first time you do a perfectly smooth dolly/steadicam/handheld shot and the image suddenly jumps to diagonally to the left or right while you are standing still.

Have fun, and send me some of the cool things you shoot!

I.

Illya Friedman
Hot Rod Cameras